Edward Wormley for Dunbar Janus Collection Leather and Mahogany Armchairs, Pair
View Similar Items
Edward Wormley for Dunbar Janus Collection Leather and Mahogany Armchairs, Pair
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer),Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 31.13 in (79.08 cm)Width: 22 in (55.88 cm)Depth: 23 in (58.42 cm)Seat Height: 20.5 in (52.07 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Very good original vintage condition. Normal minor wear from age and use. Sturdy and ready for immediate use.
- Seller Location:South Bend, IN
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2745319784482
Edward Wormley
As the longtime director of design for the Dunbar furniture company, Edward Wormley was, along with such peers as George Nelson at Herman Miller Inc., and Florence Knoll of Knoll Inc., one of the leading forces in bringing modern design into American homes in the mid-20th century. Not an axiomatic modernist, Wormley deeply appreciated traditional design, and consequently his work has an understated warmth and a timeless quality that sets it apart from other furnishings of the era.
Wormley was born in rural Illinois and as a teenager took correspondence courses from the New York School of Interior Design. He later attended the Art Institute of Chicago but ran out of money for tuition before he could graduate. Marshall Field hired Wormley in 1930 to design a line of reproduction 18th-century English furniture; the following year he was hired by the Indiana-based Dunbar, where he quickly distinguished himself. It was a good match.
Dunbar was an unusual firm: it did not use automated production systems; its pieces were mostly hand-constructed. For his part, Wormley did not use metal as a major component of furniture; he liked craft elements such as caned seatbacks, tambour drawers, or the woven-wood cabinet fronts seen on his Model 5666 sideboard of 1956. He designed two lines for Dunbar each year — one traditional, one modern — until 1944, by which time the contemporary pieces had become the clear best sellers.
Many of Wormley’s signature pieces — chairs, sofas, tables and more — are modern interpretations of traditional forms. His 1946 Riemerschmid Chair — an example is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art — recapitulates a late 19th-century German design. The long, slender finials of his Model 5580 dining chairs are based on those of Louis XVI chairs; his Listen-to-Me Chaise (1948) has a gentle Rococo curve; the “Precedent” line that Wormley designed for Drexel Furniture in 1947 is a simplified, pared-down take on muscular Georgian furniture. But he could invent new forms, as his Magazine table of 1953, with its bent wood pockets, and his tiered Magazine Tree (1947), both show. And Wormley kept his eye on design currents, creating a series of tables with tops that incorporate tiles and roundels by the great modern ceramicists Otto and Gertrud Natzler.
As the vintage items on 1stDibs demonstrate, Edward Wormley conceived of a subdued sort of modernism, designing furniture that fits into any decorating scheme and does not shout for attention.
Dunbar Furniture
Revered for its handcrafted and highly collectible mid-century modern sofas, coffee tables and other furnishings, Dunbar Furniture was founded in 1910 in Berne, Indiana, but it didn’t gain widespread recognition until the ’30s, following the introduction of its president to a designer who would leave an indelible mark on the company’s legacy: Edward Wormley.
After a stint at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Oswego, Illinois-born Wormley worked as an interior designer for Marshall Field’s before joining Dunbar in 1931. Initially focused on developing the company’s cheapest furniture line, which could be bought with soap coupons, he was soon leading Dunbar Furniture into a new era of residential furniture for modern American homes. He would serve as the company’s design director for over three decades, designing about 150 pieces each year.
During that time, he oversaw the production of designs in a wide range of materials, with influences ranging from Scandinavian modernism to Art Deco. There were modern upholstery pieces, like swiveling lounge chairs and low-slung sofas, and experiments with textural wood on bar carts and cabinets as well as minimal, sculptural tables and functional office furniture. A passionate collector of Tiffany Studios lamps, Wormley used their glass tiles in Dunbar tables in 1956. He also worked on the reproduction of pieces by designers such as Jean-Michel Frank and Richard Riemerschmid.
One standout Dunbar Furniture collection was Janus, introduced in the 1960s, with Austrian-born ceramicists Otto and Gertrud Natzler. These pieces see the Natzlers’ uniquely artful ceramic tiles set into several styles of wooden tables. They remain some of the most sought-after mid-century modern Dunbar pieces on the vintage market today. During the peak of his design career and, indeed, the height of Dunbar Furniture’s history, Wormley amassed a whopping 30 Good Design awards between 1950 and 1955 through the “Good Design” exhibition, hosted by the Chicago Merchandise Mart and the Museum of Modern Art. Dunbar today produces a limited selection of archival Wormley designs, but many sales of original Dunbar pieces are through the resale market.
Find a collection of authentic vintage Dunbar Furniture today on 1stDibs.
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Janus Collection Lounge Chairs, PairBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in South Bend, INAn exceptional pair of Janus Collection lounge chairs By Edward Wormley for Dunbar USA, 20th Century Ebonized sculpted walnut arms and legs with an exposed frame, and red up...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Walnut
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Mahogany and Steel Armchair, 1950sBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in South Bend, INA rare and exceptional Mid-Century Modern club or lounge chair By Edward Wormley for Dunbar Furniture USA, circa 1950s Solid African mahogany frames, with brushed steel stre...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsSteel
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Mid-Century Modern Sculpted Oak Armchairs, PairBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in South Bend, INA gorgeous pair of Mid-Century Modern sculpted oak club or lounge armchairs with unique original upholstery in geometric design By Edward Wormley for Dunbar USA, circa 1960s ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Club Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Oak
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Janus Collection Walnut Dining Table, Newly RestoredBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in South Bend, INAn exceptional Mid-Century Modern extension dining table in book-matched walnut By Edward Wormley for Dunbar Furniture USA, 1950s Measures: 52.5" W x 40.25" D x 29.25" H. Ex...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Ebonized Mahogany Dresser Chest, Newly RefinishedBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in South Bend, INAn exceptional Mid-Century Modern ebonized mahogany five-drawer chest of drawers By Edward Wormley for Dunbar USA, 1950s Measures: 34.13"W x 20"D x 31"H. Newly refinished...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
MaterialsMahogany
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Walnut and Mahogany Two-Tier Side Table, RestoredBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in South Bend, INAn exceptional Mid-Century Modern two-tier occasional side table By Edward Wormley for Dunbar Furniture USA, circa 1960s Book-matched walnut, with dark mahogany trim. Mea...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsMahogany, Walnut
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar "Janus" Armchairs, PairLocated in New York, NYPair of Edward Wormley for Dunbar "Janus" Line Armchairs, upholstered in gray velvet with tufted backs. Dealer:S138XXCategory
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Club Chairs
MaterialsVelvet
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Janus Collection Pair of ArmchairsBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Philadelphia, PAEdward Wormley for Dunbar Janus Collection pair of armchairs. Very rare pair of chairs all redone, newly refinished and reupholstered in a velvet. Beautiful elegant chair with except...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsWalnut
- 1950s Sculpted "Janus" Dining Height Armchairs by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Sagaponack, NYA rare dining height Janus armchair designed by Mid-Century Modern master Edward Wormley. Each chair features sculpted dark mahogany frames and the original putty suede upholstery wi...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Mahogany
- Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar Club ChairBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in St. Louis, MOSingle Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar club chair with older re-upholstery on thick tapered legs. Unrestored, ready for new upholstery, legs show age, should be refinished. Email for up...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Club Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Mahogany
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Club ChairsBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in St.Petersburg, FLStunning pair of oak framed chairs by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, referred to as “Edward’s Chair”. New fabric and great original finish. Chairs...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Club Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Oak
$3,250 / set - 1950s Dining Height Upholstered Janus Chair by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Sagaponack, NYA rare dining height Janus armchair designed by Mid-Century Modern master Edward Wormley. Each chair features sculpted dark mahogany frames and the original marble velvet...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Mahogany